Corporate Chef

FAT Brands Inc; South Fulton (GA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

OHG Brands in Atlanta, GA seeks a Corporate Chef to lead product development, menu innovation, and test kitchen operations across its global restaurant concepts. You will work with marketing, supply chain, QA, operations, and training to drive culinary strategy, source ingredients, and document recipes.

This role partners with the Innovation team to engineer costs, present new products, and support field teams with culinary guidance. Travel to events and PR appearances may be required.

Qualifications

• Strong culinary education or substantial restaurant concept experience.
• Experience developing menu items for a multi-unit brand.
• Understanding food and labor cost analytics.
• Experience with consumer research and trend analysis.
• Ability to work cross-functionally and manage external partners.
• Strong written and verbal communication with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead full product development process from ideation to formulation.
• Oversee OHG Brands test kitchen operations and inventory.
• Collaborate with marketing, supply chain, QA, ops, and training.
• Develop culinary strategy and cost-efficient recipes.
• Represent brand in PR, events, and media engagements.
• Support field teams with culinary guidance and training.

Skills

Culinary leadership

Menu development

Food cost & labor understanding

Consumer research & trends

Cross-functional collaboration

External partner management

Written & verbal communication

Influence & decision making

Education

Culinary education or equivalent

Job description

Description

OHG Brands is a leading global franchising company that develops and grows fast casual, quick-service, and casual dining concepts around the world — a portfolio of 12 brands, including Round Table Pizza®, Fatburger, Marble Slab Creamery, Johnny Rockets, Fazoli’s, Great American Cookies, Buffalo’s Cafe & Express, Hurricane Grill & Wings, Native Grill & Wings, Pretzelmaker, and Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouses, spanning more than 1,700 units worldwide.

JOB SUMMARY AND SCOPE

The Corporate Chef manages internal and external culinary initiatives for OHG Brands, including product development and menu innovation. This role oversees the company’s test kitchen and collaborates closely with marketing, supply chain, quality assurance, operations, and training teams. To drive sales and improve profitability, the Corporate Chef partners with the Innovation team to develop culinary strategy, source ingredients, create and document recipes, engineer costs, and present new products.

In addition to new menu item development, the Corporate Chef will work as a resource to our operations team and field‑level area supervisors when they need support in their culinary processes.

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Product Development 70%

• The Corporate Chef will manage all steps of the product development process including:
• Inspiration – Using industry trends, trade shows, primary and secondary research, and competitive analysis to determine which “big ideas” OHG Brands concepts should pursue for its menu.
• Ideation – Work with our partners, suppliers, franchisee stakeholders and internal teams to produce menu concepts to present to the teams.
• Validation – Utilize survey tools, focus groups, or other data collection methods to determine if menu items produced in previous step are appropriate for OHG Brands
• Formulation – Support the operational team in writing recipes for the menu items including quantities and procedures used. Food cost targets and operational constraints must be considered in this step.

Test Kitchen Management 15%

• The Corporate Chef takes ownership regarding all activities involved with the OHG Brands test kitchen, including but not limited to ordering product, cleaning & sanitation, inventory, and equipment maintenance.

Other Activities 15%

• Represent the brand on TV and other PR appearances as necessary.
• May be called to act as a food stylist for video/photo/social media shoots.
• Attend events and conferences related to the field.

Requirements

• Strong Culinary Education or sufficient background in both full-service and limited-service restaurant concepts
• Experience in the development of menu items for a multi-unit restaurant brand
• Understanding of the financials of a restaurant operation including food and labor costs.
• Understanding of consumer research and trend analysis to support strategy development including both quantitative and qualitative research methods.
• Experience in effectively guiding and managing external resource partners in accomplishing assigned responsibilities.Experience in working in a cross-functional environment where on-going communication and information sharing are vital to achieving success.
• Strong written and verbal skills and ability to interface effectively with all levels of the organization and franchise owners.
• Ability to influence decision making using consumer and business insight to drive rationally

This position will be based out of our Atlanta, GA Manufacturing Office